Damn! What now?!

Running nonstop for hours, I forgot how many grasslands I ran passed just to see another village again.

I slowed down my pace and took in a large breath.

I looked over the bright sky before checking my shadow. Judging from it, I would say it was around noon, and I still had four hours or so left before my other self took control.

Gazing over the landscape, I didn't know if I was in a village or just a tiny area where few houses were scattered across a dying land.

There were people or probably NPCs minding their own business of harvesting their dead crops and planting seeds on the muddy soil while chattering about their everyday monotonous life.

I checked with my [Evil Eyes] just to be sure.

ǁ U N K N O W N

V I L L A G E ǁ

● a nameless village on the outskirt of Roselake Town.

● A plot of farmland owned and managed by Roselake Town. Due to the harsh weather conditions and poor quality of soil, not many plants grew on this land. Dead and expensive to maintain it was abandoned and left for the pest to feaster on.

● currently, it's inhabited by the poor and outcast. Beggars, lowborn, peasants, and criminals who didn't have a home.

● Area = 10 km sq.

● Population = 20

● Quest = 1

ǁ E N D ǁ

Oh? Is this village already part of Roselake? Then does that mean I was near?

There's also a quest?

<A normal quest that wouldn't yield enough rewards to sate your hunger>

Perhaps.

But a quest is a quest.

I might get something worthwhile.

I pressed a local that was blinking red on the map that the [Evil Eyes] displayed on my screen.

ǁ E D N A ǁ

● a ran away enslaved person from the Town of Roselake. Together with her daughter, she had come to this abandoned plot of land to escape her tyrant of a master, hoping for a better life. However, one day, her daughter went missing, and it all started when a wagon came to visit their little village.

● Quest: Find Eunice

ǁ E N D ǁ

A non-combatant NPC. That's good news. Rather, I doubt she could even lift a finger with her corpse like state.

Hmm . . . I was curious about the rewards, so I hurried to the skinny old lady who seemed like she would fall at any moment with just a tiny gust of wind. Her skin was dry and wrinkly, and it looked like she was barely hanging on to dear life.

The other villagers weren't looking good either.

They looked like twigs and sickly, and some random child was skin and bones, eating mud on the side while his mother was harvesting dried grass.

This place was depressing and smelled like death.

. . . Not my problem.

"Hello. Do you happen to know where Roselake Town is?" I asked Edna.

She just looked at me with her blank eyes and said with a voice that sounded like she was about to breathe her last.

"Just continue north . . . following the road . . ." Edna's shaky fingers pointed towards the dirt path before she sighed in disgust.

It must be because she didn't want to talk to me because of my [Evil Halo] and my low relationship level with her. But she didn't have much of a choice.

"My daughter . . . Eunice . . . she might have sneaked inside that wagon . . . she always wanted to go back to Roselake and be a slave than living here . . . in this . . . God-forsaken land."

Edna then stared at me with her opaque eyes. "Please, stranger . . . suppose you're going to Roselake Town. Can you give this to my daughter?"

[Edna is requesting your aid!]

[ACCEPT]

[DECLINE]

I pressed [ACCEPT] since I wouldn't lose anything even if I didn't fulfill her wish.

[New SIDE QUEST appeared!]

ǁ F I N D

E U N I C E ǁ

● Eunice ran away from home, and Edna assumed she sneaked into a wagon passing by their village.

● give the letter to Eunice

● REWARDS:

❶ Potato Seeds x4

ǁ E N D ǁ

. . . What crappy rewards.

I shook my head and sighed before leaving the older woman who was still talking, shouting while panting.

"Please! Give that letter . . . to . . .!"

I went on my way and resumed running like a mad man. I thought I would get some gil as a reward since I only have 1000 gil on me.

But that was me expecting something from a rundown dying village with sickly people waiting for their death.

Another Forest? I thought when I saw another lush trees with towering canopies looming under the sky.

I scan the area with my [Evil Eyes].

ǁ S H A D O W

F O R E S T ǁ

● a dense forest south of Roselake Town

● a land overshadowed by large canopies blanketing it in ever perpetual shades of grey. It was a shortcut to Roselake Town, but not many dared to set foot in the dangers lurking in the dark.

● currently, it's inhabited by a powerful Hag that snatched adventurers and unknowing travelers, eating them for desserts.

● Area = 5 km sq.

● Population = 5

● Quest = 1

ǁ E N D ǁ

Hag?

I pressed the little hut in the middle of the forest displayed on the map by my [Evil Eyes].

ǁ B U T C H E R

H O U S E ǁ

● a small house the Hag used and his Trolls to butcher their victims

● a simple hut that seemed like a friendly house for weary travelers to rest but unbeknownst to the many, it's the home of a powerful Hag that lured its victims to knock on its doors.

● currently inhabited by a powerful Hag and her three giant Troll sons

● Area = 100 sq. meter

● Population = 5

● Quest = 1

ǁ E N D ǁ

There should only be four of them. I counted the inhabitants inside the hut.

Then who's the number five?

My eyes shone when I checked the name displayed above the walking dots on the map.

A player?